Obesity is regarded as the worst plague ever in the globe and has been declared as a disease by the World Health Organization in 1997. Increase of overweight and obesity has been continued since 1960′, and such tendency hardly ever falls.
In USA, the number of people having overweight or obesity is continuously increasing. At present, 65% and 30% of adults over 20 years old are considered as having overweight and obesity, respectively. Even in developing countries, obesity rates in economically developed regions are no less than those of advanced countries. Currently, the number of people with obesity in USA and Japan is up to about 300 million. Every year, more than 0.3 million people die from obesity and the expenses in connection with obesity are amounted to about $100 billion.
Over the world, the obesity population surges with environmental changes boosted by economic development, modernization, and urbanization. And overweight rate is higher in male population than in female, while obesity rate is generally less in male than female. The obesity rate in children and the young is high in developed countries and advanced countries both.
The currently-used therapies for obesity include dietary therapy, physical activity, behavior therapy, drug therapy, combined therapy surgery (gastrectomy), etc.
Most of foods widely used for controlling obesity are dietary fiber, and some foods that have not been medically proved in their effect are also sold in market.
As antiobesity drugs approved by FDA, the following drugs are now available: Orlistat (brand name: Xenical), Phentermine (brand name: Fastin, Zantryl etc.), and Sibutramine (brand name: Reductil, Meridia, etc.).
Orlistat (Xenical), which has been approved most recently, has an efficacy to prevent absorption of about 30% of fat taken from food, thereby makes reduce body weight. In other sides, Phentermine and Sibutramine have an efficacy to suppress appetite.
Orlistat (Xenical) combines with lipase in digestive tract, then makes reduce the lipolysis in the small intestine thereby prevents absorption of fat. However, undegraded fat remaining in the intestine gives rise to several side effects such as abdominal discomfort or pain, rectal discomfort or pain, fatty or oily stools, vomiting, depression, leg pain, swollen feet, etc. Such side effects may be more severe if more fat are taken.
Phentermine changes the serotonin value in the brain to suppress appetite. But it may raise blood pressure and heart rate and stimulate the central nervous system, which are the same side effects of amphetamine.
Sibutramine can suppress reabsorption of norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine which are neurotransmitters, thereby induce appetite suppression in brain. However, it may cause a lot of side effects including abdominal pain, anxiety, constipation, depression, headache, insomnia, joint pain, nausea, nervousness, stomachache, etc. Furthermore a recent report that Sibutramine (Reductil) is linked to cardiac death brought up the matter of safety as a critical issue.
Accordingly, an ideal obesity treatment should be able to reduce only body fat selectively without affecting muscles and bones, enable maintaining body weight after successful body weight loss, and first of all, have no side effect caused by long-term administration.
In order to develop antiobesity drugs that can solve the above problems and reduce body fat and body weight simultaneously, the inventors of the present invention studied the antiobesity effects of herbal medicines that have been used for a long time.
With regard to antiobesity effects of herbal medicines, KR 10-2004-0065427 A1 discloses anti-obesity biohealth products containing Artemisia iwayomogi oligosaccharide, AIP1 (Artemisia iwayomogi Polysaccharide Fraction 1) for improving endocrine physiological metabolism of obesity, and KR 10-2005-83066 A1 describes a food for antibesity comprising Eucommia-ulmoides Oliver extract or Morus-alba Linne extract.
As a result of arduous studies, a composition comprising extract of Melissa, a composition comprising extract of Melissa and extract of Mori Folium, and a composition comprising extract of Melissa, extract of Artemisia and extract of Mori Folium have remarkable effects on reduction of body weight and body fat, and then completed this invention.